D'Urban St inferno leaves 71 homeless
Five houses gutted
By Nigel Williams
Stabroek News
May 2, 2002
Seventy-one persons are homeless and millions of dollars in property went up in flames when fire ripped through five houses on Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge yesterday afternoon.
The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was severely hampered by damaged hydrants and residents berated the firemen for what they thought was a poor performance.
The fire yesterday started in a three-flat wood and concrete building owned by Julia Newyear known as `Cousin Marie'. Located at Lot 16 it had housed six families comprising some 28 persons. Newyear had remigrated from the United Kingdom seven years ago and was scheduled to return next Tuesday.
She valued the property at around $50 million and said it had 28 rooms, six bathrooms, six dining rooms and six apartments.
Another house that was destroyed belonged to Reynold Sergeant who resided at Lot 14. Sergeant's house was a two-flat building. He operated a liquor store in the bottom flat and lived upstairs along with his brother Victor Sergeant. Sergeant also lost millions in stocks. At Lot 15 a single mother, Joan Otto and her four children, Areka, Travis, Shonneta and Nessa along with a senior citizen also watched in despair as their one-flat, two-bedroom wooden home went up in flames. And at Lot 17, three families who shared a two-flat home also watched in tears as the house which they were renting was devoured by the raging flames.
The other dwelling that was ravaged was behind the buildings on the street and was said to have been uninhabited at the time.
Eyewitnesses told this newspaper that the fire started at about 4:20 pm yesterday in the lower flat of the three-flat house. One man said that it is believed that a kerosene stove was left alight and it was there the fire started. When Stabroek News arrived on the scene a huge crowd had already converged on the street, and group of young men formed a bucket brigade and worked assiduously to quell the flames. At first their efforts had seemed in vain but it later turned out to be successful as they eventually managed to aid in controlling the fire. The GFS could not do its job effectively because of the lack of usable fire hydrants. For over 45 minutes, the residents whose homes were under threat abused members of the GFS and quarrelled among themselves lamenting the poor service delivered by the fire service. Some of them wasted little time. Even before the fire spread to their houses they had already removed household articles and drenched their houses with water. The gutters nearby were almost completely drained in their efforts.
While the residents battled to salvage their property, Newyear collapsed several times before she was taken away from the scene and revived by a relative. She told Stabroek News that she was part owner of the three-flat building. She said she was in her bedroom watching television when she heard someone shouting fire. "I quickly ran through the back door and came outside." Newyear said she had acquired the home some seven years ago and had recently done some rehabilitation work on the building. She said she had heard that someone had left a kerosene stove on and went away and that she opined may have caused the fire. However, no other occupant of that house was available to comment.
On the eastern side of Newyear's building, single parent, Dawn Rutherford complained about the service from the GFS. She said that if they had water and were fully equipped her house would have been saved. Her house, Lot 17, was the last to be devoured by the flames. Rutherford noted she had been able to save a few household articles and was contemplating where she and her four children would stay last evening. Next to Rutherford, Cheryl Nixon, 36, who also resided at Lot 17, bemoaned her losses. She said that she had just taken a bath and had eaten some buns and drunk ginger beer when she heard the loud cry of fire! Fire! Nixon said when she opened her western window she saw the flames leaping from Newyear's house and with that she hastily threw some of her household articles through her windows and managed to escape. She was grateful that her children and relatives were all safe.
In contrast to Nixon, Elizabeth Lovell, a grandmother of 11 said that she wasn't able to save anything. She said that she was not well off and had struggled to maintain her grandchildren whose parents are not around. She said that her losses at Lot 17 were substantial since she had only recently purchased some household articles and had several valuable items in her house. According to her, the children who are all of school age had nothing to wear and she had nowhere to go.
Joan Otto was in tears as the single parent related that she had struggled to purchase the things she had in her house. The house that she lived in was that of her relative but she had to think of another dwelling yesterday because of her misfortune. Otto said that she too had just taken a bath when she was alerted to the blaze. She said that she wasn't able to save anything.
Sergeant, a liquor dealer who had resided in area for 40 years, was too distressed to speak. His brother, Victor was equally disconsolate but he told this newspaper that their losses were in the millions. He said that there were stocks in the shop along with their household articles. Victor blamed the GFS saying that had it responded promptly and been well-equipped their house would have been saved. He praised the men who controlled the flames with buckets saying had it not been for them many other houses would have been destroyed.
While the GFS was still battling to access water mains, the bucket brigade climbed upon roofs of houses and poured water relentlessly. By now the crowd had swelled, police officers were summoned, barriers were put up but yet the fire service was unable to take control of the situation.
Residents mocked the fire-fighters and those whose houses were under threat watched helplessly. The heat from the blaze became intense, gas bottles ignited and the fire spread. The men on the roofs continued battling the blaze up until 6 pm when the fire was finally brought under control by the fire service.
In a statement issued through the Government Information Agency (GINA) at 9.27 last night, the GFS said that it got a call at 4.27 pm about the fire and dispatched two fire appliances from the Central Fire Station, one from the Campbellville Station and one from the West Ruimveldt Station. Two land rover appliances from Guysuco also backed these up. Within four minutes the appliances were on the scene.
The GINA statement said that the first one to arrive was sited on Joseph Pollydore Street and it "later retreated" when its maximum capacity of 400 gallons was exhausted which in the best of circumstances is not more than a minute. "The fire-fighters skillfully managed this limited supply of water in each appliance. The other appliances were sited in Norton and Princes streets to make full use of the open water source. The fire appliance from Campbellville with 2000 gallons of water had the highest volume of water and was sited in Norton Street.
The statement said that 40 firefighters battled the blaze using the surround technique and contained the fire. The statement added that four buildings were completely destroyed and three partially damaged.
Commenting on the water situation Chief Fire Officer, Prince Dickenson told Stabroek News that when his men got to the scene there were no fire hydrants and as such their job was retarded. He said that the tenders had water but because there were no water hydrants in the area they were forced to retreat. He said that the area had fire hydrants but residents had vandalised them. He called on citizens to desist from this practice saying what happened yesterday could have been avoided. He acknowledged that two tenders from GUYSUCO were summoned to help boost the GFS.
The Lovells who inhabited Lot 17 were named as 60-year-old Elizabeth Lovell, 36-year-old Madonna, 34-year-old Marlyn, 29-year-old Melissa, 22-year-old Marcia, 19-year-old Randolph, 14-year-old Shevon, 14-year-old Shonette, 13-year-old Handel, 12-year-old Kellon, eight-year-old Shennel, seven-year-old Michael, five-year-old Shamaine, four-year-old Kevin, three-year-old Kevon and two-year-old Kelton.
The Nixon family also resided at the same house but in the lower flat. The Nixon family comprised eight members. Among them are Norma Nixon, Cheryll, Shevin, Quincy, Christian and Benjamin. Dawn Rutherford and her four children resided in another apartment. Their names were given as Dillon, Deson, Disshana and Amena.
Minister within the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick arrived at the scene moments after the fire was extinguished. She told Stabroek News that she was alerted to the incident by President Bharrat Jagdeo and she had made arrangements for those who lost their houses to be accommodated at the Night Shelter. She said that beds are available at the shelter.
On March 8, a similar fire left some 40 persons destitute after it destroyed four houses on Bent Street, Werk-en-Rust.